Wednesday, 18 March 2015

I rarely buy a loaf of bread anymore as I prefer to make my own in my bread maker. I wanted to try something different as I had been making loafs of bread and cob loafs for the last couple of months and decided on trying my hand at some bagels. I love bagels but I hadn't tried making them before so I had a look at a handful of recipes I found online and cobbled my own recipe together using them as a starting point.

'Everything' BagelsMakes 6 - 8 IngredientsFor the bagels:7g easy bake yeast (I use Allinson)450g strong bread flour2 tbsp sugar (I used golden caster sugar)2 tbsp salt300ml warm waterFor the bagel topping:1 tbsp onion powder1 tbsp garlic powder1 tbsp poppy seedsFor the 'bagel bath':A large deep frying panEnough boiling water to fill your pan2 tbsp sugarMethodI used my bread maker for this. Put the yeast, bread flour, sugar, salt and warm water into your bread maker and set it off on the dough setting. Alternatively, do it the old fashioned way by mixing everything together in a bowl, knead for 10 mins and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour for the dough to rise. When the dough is ready pre-heat your oven to 220c (200c for a fan assisted oven).When your dough has risen, knock out the air and divide into 6 or 8 equal parts depending on how big you want them. Make each piece into a flattish ball and poke a hole in the middle. At this point you might want to stretch out the hole a little more to allow space for the bagels to expand in the oven but this is your preference. Now its time for the 'bagel bath'! I used a large deep frying pan so I was able to put half a batch of bagels in at a time and yet still leaving room to flip them. Fill your deep frying pan with boiling water and add 2 tbsp of sugar to the water. Slip the bagels into the water 3 or 4 at a time and boil for 1 - 2 minutes turning them in the water until they have puffed up slightly and a skin has formed. Put aside for the next step.On a plate mix together the onion powder, garlic powder and poppy seeds. Take each bagel and dip the tops of them into the mixture to create your 'everything bagel' topping. Bake on baking tray lined with parchment paper for a maximum of 25 minutes or until brown and crisp. The bases should sound hollow when tapped. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.Enjoy!Bryden

Monday, 16 March 2015

In my friend circle we do try and get involved with a bit of crafting. There's always a bit of a running joke that my friend Danni is way too impatient and ends up messing up and that our other friend Katrina watches me closely, learns what not to do from Danni's mistakes and then asks me to finish it off. I usually am quite successful at crafting but it's never completely perfect! When I saw an invite to join Hillary's Blinds for an afternoon of tea of crafting with the Crafty Hen's it was right up my alley and I invited Katrina along for the ride!

Hillary's have been hosting blog events around the country making various craft items with their new range of blind material (You can find more information about the craft roadshow here). The Crafty Hens and Hillary's Blinds hosted our event at the Jazz Cafe near Central. I hadn't been in the Jazz Cafe since it was actually the Jazz Cafe and you needed to knock on the door to get in! If the owner didn't like the look of you.. you weren't getting in! It's all changed now and seems to fit into the area well.

After having a much needed coffee the hen's briefed us on what we would be doing and showed us step by step how we would create a stuffed ornamental bird and a book cover. The book cover was easy to do and made even easier as the material was already cut to size so all we had to do was a few folds, a couple of stitches and ta da it was done. The bird was a little more complicated to do and took patience to make sure the stitches were close enough together to make sure that the stuffing didn't bust out the sides.

If you want to see more check out #hillaryscrafternoon on Instagram and Twitter

About Us

We are two girls (Claire and Bryden) from Newcastle Upon Tyne. We love going to restaurants (Old favourites and new). We're both beauty junkies and we're always on the look out for our next 'holy grail' products.

If you have any questions we can be contacted at treblesandamixer@hotmail.co.uk.

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